This discussion is relevant for any undergraduate, graduate, or executive student, for any poor soul that sits through class after class, meeting after meeting, conference after conference.

I was the victim of 4 crimes as a student:

Sitting through a class where I was so bored that I wanted to poke my eye out with a pencil.

Feeling that I might as well have been a stuffed dummy because the professor prattled on, not even trying to engage anyone but his/her own mind.

Knowing that the only thing I got out of a class was fulfilling a “requirement”.

The most heinous crime, building off of the “required” one, was the notion that my suffering was meaningless, that there was no use- either existential or practical- to whatever it was that I was fighting to keep both eyes in their sockets and open for.

These experiences are the foundation for Rule #1:

If you don’t want to come to class don’t. There are many of you and one of me. That’s hard enough work. If you do choose to attend, SHOW UP.

This doesn’t mean sitting in a chair and playing with your phone (that is addressed later in Rule #5), or surfing with your computer. That doesn’t count as being PRESENT. Do your work ahead of time, drink caffeine if you must to stay awake, and be ready to partake in whatever I am serving that day.

My job is to be engaging, relevant, insightful, and entertaining. If people are yawning and clock-watching I am not doing my job. Because I do not take attendance, I have to earn people’s presence every time I step in front of a room. I have to SHOW UP too.

I am known as: “the hard one, a lot of work but fair, and you’ll learn a lot”. Some students deliberately select my class. Some don’t. All are given the lay of the land on the first day- exactly what is expected of them as deliverables and “The Rules”.
This baptism results in some students not returning- other times, they request overrides, but clearly, they know what they are in for and that I mean business.

What’s interesting, is that after I set all of these expectations, I ask what they expect of me in exchange. They stare in disbelief- not realizing that my presence is sponsored by their tuition dollar so, in theory- I work for them. It will take them a few minutes to realize I mean it and then we agree to no death by power point, interesting discussion and that’s about it. They really do not demand a lot. Yet they are very gracious at the end for the journey we take together. They thank me for having them work hard.
The key to pushing them beyond what they know they can do is showing them how to get there, keeping it meaningful and cheering them on. It’s beautiful to watch. But first, there’s “The Rules”.